Featured Jeeper – Zach Harkness

How many Jeeps have you owned in your lifetime? – 1? 2? Maybe even 3? How about 17 and still going strong? I know of one person who can say they have owned 17 jeeps in their lifetime and I am pretty sure that number will continue to grow. That person would be none the less then Zach Harkness – today’s featured Jeeper. Allow me to turn this over to Zach while he shares his love of Jeeps!

Zach Harkness

“I grew up Jeeping from when I was little in my dads 83 CJ-7; almost everyone in our family owns a Jeep or two. My wife and I currently have two Jeeps a 2009 JK and a 2001 Grand Cherokee Limited with the upcountry package. I used two be the main Fabricator for a local Jeep shop in Salt Lake and have built almost every kind of Jeep there is but for the last four years I have been doing home loans.”

Zach Harkness

“I have been married to my wife Kathy for two years this coming February and our favorite thing to do is jump in one of the Jeeps for the weekend and see where it takes us, the farther away from any civilization the better. Our son Zach is 11 years old and is always asking when we are going to go on our next ride. Our favorite place to go is usually Moab and I know most trails very well since I lived there for around 5 years and ran many of the trails doing daily tours.”

Zach Harkness

“One of our most memorable wheeling incidents was a trip through Capital Reef and then taking an old trail through Wild Horse Canyon to Goblin Valley in our 2001 Grand Cherokee last year. We made it to the muddy river but it had been washed out really bad so the road was completely gone and the river bed was just really soft silt mixed with gravel type rocks. It ended up sinking the whole front of the Grand Cherokee and stranding us on Thanksgiving weekend in the middle of nowhere. I ended up hiking 15 miles to the nearest highway and getting a ride to a hotel 8 miles away and calling the Utah Highway Patrol and search and rescue, my cell phone couldn’t get any reception and when it finally did the battery died.”

Zach Harkness

“We went back for my wife, son and Grandpa who were still waiting at the Jeep for rescue and had built a fire to stay warm with no matches or a lighter. It was 22 degree’s at the warmest part of day so it is easy to say that was the coldest hike or walk I have ever had to make. The whole thing started around 10:00 A.M. and we got home around 1:30 A.M. in the morning.”

Zach Harkness

Favorite off road quote:
“Courage, the feeling you get just before you are about to do something stupid”

Zach Harkness

Zach has done a huge amount of modifications throughout his Jeep owning history, and here is a list of just mods on his current two jeeps followed by a list of his previously owned Jeeps!